Cocoon Nebula
The Cocoon Nebula (IC 5146) is a reflection nebula in Cygnus. The NGC description refers to IC 5146 as a cluster of 9.5 mag stars involved in a bright and dark nebula. The cluster is also known as Collinder 470. It shines at magnitude +10.0/+9.3/+7.2. Its coordinates are RA 21h 53.5m, dec+47° 16′. It is located near the naked-eye star Pi Cygni, the open cluster NGC 7209 in Lacerta, and the bright open cluster M39.
The cluster is about 4,000 ly away, and the central star that lights it formed about 100,000 years ago; the nebula is about 12 arcmins across, which is equivalent to a span of 15 light years. When viewing IC 5146, dark nebula Barnard 168 (B168) is an inseparable part of the experience, forming a dark lane that surrounds the cluster and projects westward forming the appearance of a trail behind the Cocoon.
-Equipment-
Scope: Celestron EdgeHD 8
Mount: Atlas Pro with Polmaster
Tripod: iOptron TriPier
Guiding: Borg 50mm with Orion Star-shoot
Camera: sBig STF-8300m with FW8 filter wheel
Filters: Baader 32mm LRGB, HA,SII,OIII
-Software-
Processing: Maxim,PixInsight,Photoshop: in that order
Acquisition: SGP
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